Brussels, 02/12/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 1 December, Spain announced its intention to relaunch an initiative to simplify divorce for bi-national couples during its presidency of the EU, and urged the Commission to present a proposal in this connection. During a press conference at the end of the justice and home affairs meeting, the Spanish minister for justice, Francisco Caamano Dominguez, indicated: “We have asked the Commission to present a proposal to us as soon as possible”. The minister insisted that “even if difficulties are encountered with the Nordic countries we will obtain a solution on this question”. The European commissioner for justice, Jacques Barrot, expressed a number of reservations, particularly on the launch of reinforced co-operation in this area. He warned that “if we want to move towards cooperation, we need to convince and bring together the largest number of states to prevent citizenship falling apart”. Nonetheless, he did say that he was not ruling anything out. In June 2008, the draft Rome III regulation on cross-border divorce was blocked by the Swedish veto, thus denying an agreement at unanimity. After this failure, 10 member states addressed a formal demand to the Commission to produce a strengthened cooperation proposal. Until now, this initiative has not been followed up (EUROPE 9946). (B.C./transl.fl)